News & announcements

Protecting Cultural Collections:

Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, Response & Recovery

Part 1: Prevention & Preparedness

Seattle: Friday, October 4, 2013, – 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Odegaard Undergraduate Library Room 220, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Part 2: Response & Recovery

Seattle: Thursday, November 7, 2013, – 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Odegaard Undergraduate Library Room 220, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Sponsored by Western States & Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS).

Co-sponosred by the Seattle Heritage Emergency Response Network (SHERN).

Instructor:

Gary Menges is retired Preservation Administrator at the University of Washington Libraries, Seattle. He is amember of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC CERT).

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The “Protecting Cultural Collections” workshops are presented in a 2-part sequence to produce the following outcomes for disaster preparedness

activities:

  *  Complete a disaster response & collection salvage plan by the end of Part 2

  *  Learn how to train staff to implement your plan effectively

  *  Set pre- and post-disaster action priorities for your collections

  *  Understand practical decision-making skills needed during an emergency

  *  Experience salvage procedures for a wide variety of material including books, documents, photos & objects

 

The workshop days are scheduled 5 weeks apart. Participants will prepare short assignments prior to the first session; between sessions, they will undertake additional assignments resulting in a completed disaster plan at the end of Part 2.

Who should attend:    Administrators and staff responsible for emergency preparedness, response and decision-making, in all types of cultural institutions.  By registering for the workshop, the institution commits to supporting the attendee(s) to achieve the workshop's disaster preparedness goals. When possible, please send two attendees so they can work together on the disaster preparedness activities.

Cost:    No charge to the institution.  Funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Registration:     Pre-registration required. Register online at: WESTPAS workshops

http://tiny.cc/ZePOL (Go to October 4th and click on the date.)

For registration assistance contact: Alexandra Gingerich  gingerich@plsinfo.org

For general & content information contact: Gary Menges @westpas.org

Additional iInformation about the workshops will be sent to the registrants before each workshop.

CFP: MAC Annual Meeting 2014

The Syncopations of History: MAC at Kansas City

Whether you prefer a 4/4 beat, elaborate riffing, or playing by memory (all signatures of the Kansas City jazz style), the 2014 Midwest Archives Conference Program Committee (PC) looks forward to receiving session proposals fitting the theme: “The Syncopations of History.” The full Call for Proposals for the meeting, scheduled for April 24-26 in Kansas City, Missouri, is available via the MAC website.

Tell us how you are composing and improvising in your repository. How do you keep your archival rhythms going and still hold the beat?  Don’t have money for an expensive electronic record keeping system? How are you putting something together with a limited budget? Use the session proposal form (PDF) or the web-based form to submit your proposal. The deadline for proposals is September 20, 2013.

If you have questions, or wish to submit session proposals in another way, please contact 2014 Program Committee co-chairs Jeremy Brett, Texas A&M University Processing Archivist (979-845-1951), or Michelle Sweetser, Marquette University Archivist (414-288-5905).

SAA is coming to Washington! Register at least 30 days prior to the offering and receive a $50 early bird discount.

Digital Repositories [DAS]

March 7 in Cheney

Digital Repositories [DAS]

March 8 in Seattle

Arrangement and Description of Electronic Records Part I and II [DAS]

April 8-9 in Cheney 

The 27th annual Western Archives Institute will be held at the University of California, Riverside from July 7 – 19, 2013.  The Western Archives Institute is an intensive, two-week program that provides integrated instruction in basic archival practices to individuals with a variety of backgrounds, including those whose jobs require a fundamental understanding of archival skills, but who have little or no previous archives education; those who have expanding responsibility for archival materials; those who are practicing archivists but have not received formal instruction; and those who demonstrate a commitment to an archival career.

 

The Institute also features site visits to historical records repositories and a diverse curriculum that includes history and development of the profession, theory and terminology, records management, appraisal, arrangement, description, manuscripts acquisition, archives and the law, photographs, preservation administration, reference and access, outreach programs, and managing archival programs and institutions.

 

Gregory S. Hunter, Ph.D., CA, CRM, has graciously agreed to serve as Principle Faculty Member for the 2013 Institute. He is a Professor at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long Island University, and is Editor of The American Archivist.  He holds a Ph.D. in American History from New York University.  Prior to joining the Palmer School in 1990, Dr. Hunter was Director of Archival Programs for the United Negro College Fund and Manager of Corporate Records for ITT Corporation.  He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society of American Archivists, and two of his books have received awards from the Society of American Archivists.  He also served as Principal Archivist and Records Manager on the team that designed and built the Electronic Records Archives for the National Archives and Records Administration.  Dr. Hunter was the founding President of the Academy of Certified Archivists and he also is a Certified Records Manager.

 

Tuition for the Institute is $700 and includes a selection of archival publications. Other non-negotiable fees including program transportation, facility fees, opening dinner, and luncheon at the closing program will be available in early February.  Housing and meal plans are available at additional cost.

The application deadline for the 2013Western Archives Institute is March 1, 2013. For additional program information, see http://www.calarchivists.org/WAI, or contact:

For additional information, contact:

Administrator

Western Archives Institute

1020 O Street

Sacramento, CA 95814

 

Telephone: (916) 653–7715

Fax: (916) 653–7134E-mail: ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov

 

The Western Archives Institute is co-sponsored by the Society of California Archivists and the California State Archives.

 

The application package is available on the California State Archives web site at http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/wai/, and on the Society of California Archivists web site at http://www.calarchivists.org/WAI. 

Please save the dates for our 2013 joint  Northwest Archivists (NWA) and Archives Association of British Columbia (AABC)  conference. If you are considering attending the conference, be sure to check that your passport is up to date. If not (or if you do not have a passport), start the process soon. Look in the coming weeks for a call for proposals.

Title: Turning Points and Connecting Archival Spaces

Dates: May 2-4, 2013

Location: Irving Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC

Trevor

Trevor James Bond, Head

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

Washington State University Libraries

Phone: 509 335-6693

The University of Oregon Libraries is pleased to announce a one-day workshop in basic film preservation in Portland, Oregon, on Sat., Oct. 27, 2012. The workshop is designed for people in the Northwest working in archives, historical societies, libraries, and other institutions that have film collections but no one with expertise to handle it properly. The workshop will cover how to handle, assess, document, and store archival film, as well as how to set up a low-cost film preservation program. Attendance will be limited to 15 participants. The workshop is free, but registration is required.

 

For more information and to register: https://libweb.uoregon.edu/film_workshop.html

 

“The rebellion of the archivist against his normal role is not, as so many scholars fear, the politicizing of a neutral craft, but the humanizing of an inevitably political craft."
-- Howard Zinn "Secrecy, Archives, and the Public Interest," Vol. II, No. 2 (1977) of Midwestern Archivist.

The boundaries between "archivist" and "activist" have become increasingly porous, rendering ready distinctions between archivists (traditionally restricted to the preservation of records, maintaining accountability, and making critical information available to the communities they serve) and activists (who, with greater frequency, look to archives or adopt elements of archival practice as a means of documenting their struggles) virtually unsustainable. In the past year, archivists and citizen activists collaborated to document the Occupy Wall Street movement, and archivists committed to open government worked with the New York City Council to advocate for keeping the Municipal Archives as an independent city agency. While the apparent convergence of archival and activist worlds may appear a timely and relevant topic, these distinct communities often deliberate their roles separately with little dialogue.

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York and the New School Archives and Special Collections are sponsoring a symposium to bring together a diverse group of archivists, activists, students, and theorists with the aim of facilitating discussion of their respective concerns. Among its proposed topics, the symposium will address potential roles that archivists may engage in as activists, as well as how archivists can assume a greater role in documenting and contributing toward social and political change.

Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

-Archivists documenting the work of activists and activist movements
-Activists confronting traditional archival practice
-Possible models for an emergent “activist archives”
-Methodologies for more comprehensively documenting activism
-Archivist and activist collaborations
-Community-led archives and repositories operating outside of the archival establishment
-Archives as sites of knowledge (re)production and in(ter)vention
-Relational paradigms for mapping the interplay of power, justice, and archives

-Critical pedagogy in the reference encounter
-Interrogating preconceptions and misunderstandings that obscure common goals

Date: Friday, October 12, 2012

Location: Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, The New School

All individual presentations will be 20 minutes long (10 page paper).
Submissions must include a title, name of author and institutional affiliation (if applicable), abstract (250 words max), and indication of technological requirements.
Individual papers or entire panel proposals accepted.

Deadline for Proposals: Proposals should be emailed to admin@nycarchivists.org by August 1, 2012.

Time to vote for your NWA leadership!

2012 NWA Elections Guide: NWA2012ElectionGuide.pdf
2012 NWA online ballot: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5JYQTJW

Online voting will close at end-of-day April 23.

Questions?  Contact Tony Kurtz mailto:tony.kurtz@wwu.edu


Your 2012 NWA Nominations Commitee:
Tony Kurtz
Sara Piasecki
Geoff Wexler

PSU Library Archives will tweet a great photo of the day! 

Twitter name: PSU Library Archives

Twitter ID: @PSULibArchives

PSU Library’s University Archives & Special Collections 

is home to PSU's historical records and to an array of 

rare books, collections and manuscripts.

The Program Committee is seeking proposals for a special session dedicated to poster displays created by both archives and cultural heritage professionals and students. The Poster Session will showcase research that is completed or underway; discuss interesting collections with which professionals or students have worked; report on archives, records projects, or exhibits that submitters have contributed to or are currently working on (e.g. historic preservation, outreach projects, multi-disciplinary projects, collaboration, successful internship project). Posters should be designed as an inspiring visual exploration of work or research related to the archival and cultural heritage fields.

Posters will be presented on Friday, April 27, 2012, during the morning and afternoon breaks. Participants will be expected to register for and attend the conference. A half-price registration fee is available for full-time students. 

Proposals are due on Friday, February 24, 2012. Click here for more information.